5th E-cigarette Summit – time to book your place at the discussion table?

The 5th annual E-Cigarette Summit will take place at the Royal Society in London on Friday 17th November 2017 and iPIP staff will be there to take part in the discussions. As in previous years it is being organised without sponsorship.

Since the first meeting 2013, The E-Cigarette Summit has been at the forefront of taking forward the scientific and public health debate around e-cigarettes and broader harm reduction debates. The Summit has established itself as a neutral environment for scientists, policy makers, medical and public health professionals and stakeholders to come together and look at the latest scientific research and evidence on e-cigarettes and debate their impact. In 2013, the conversation was UK centric as the public health and policy communities sought to find an appropriate regulatory system for e-cigarettes that would reflect the opportunities for smokers without ignoring potential harms. In the intervening years, the UK has emerged as an active proponent for tobacco harm reduction alongside stringent tobacco control measures and now five years on the Summit welcomes scientists, public health professionals and policy makers from around the world who are looking to establish their own regulatory framework in the face of new nicotine products.

Some of the topics that will be discussed include. Do e-cigarettes normalise smoking?

The Continuum of Harm Reduction and different policy/regulatory approaches

E-Cigarette safety and research

Nicotine health impacts including addiction

Dual use – how concerned should we be

Heat not Burn and E-cigarettes – similarities and differences

Advertising restrictions – how to reach smokers and protect youth

Medicinal Licensing – is this a viable route and where are the products

What does the evidence say about gateway

Are there health risks through second hand vapour for non-users

If e-cigarettes are so good, why aren’t all smokers using them

Tobacco Industry and the NHS is there a conflict of interest?

If you want to know more or have an opinion on these topics and others then this is the meeting to attend. Questions will be explored in a balanced and objective environment allowing attendees to build their knowledge and share their viewpoints.

Paul Hooper, Co-director of the Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre, says

“I can remember when the first e-cigarettes were introduced to the country. They were expensive, frequently poorly made and ineffective. I predicted that they would not last long. Instead what has happened is that they have evolved to devices almost unrecognisable from the early prototypes. As the industrys has developed so have the arguments. The summit is a rare opportunity for stakeholder groups to discuss the way forward and hopefully best meet the needs of consumers whilst protecting them from greater harm”